Washington honours Roxon, global champion in anti-tobacco battle

Nick O'Malley in Washington

THE Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, will be honoured in Washington, DC, tonight for championing what will ''go down as the most important turning point'' in the global fight against tobacco in a generation.

Ms Roxon, who introduced plain packaging legislation as health minister and is now defending it in her new portfolio, will receive the annual ''Global Champion'' award before 500 guests at a gala dinner hosted by one of the US's largest anti-tobacco groups, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Before the ceremony, she will make a speech at Georgetown University that is essentially a ''how-to'' guide for politicians and public health officials interested in replicating the legislation.

The plain packaging law, which forces tobacco companies to sell their product in drab packaging dominated by graphic health warnings, is being challenged before Australia's High Court.

''The whole world has watched as Australia has debated and adopted this legislation precisely because of its significance,'' Mr Myers said.

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''It has drawn the strongest reaction from the tobacco industry that I have ever seen. [The tobacco industry] is treating this as a battle they cannot lose.

''They are betting everything on this fight, and having met Nicola Roxon, it is not a bet I would take.''

Mr Myers said governments and health groups had closely watched how Australia had engaged in debate, mounted a scientific argument, defended itself against the industry's public campaign and then negotiated domestic and international law to bed down the legislation.

''We work in 30 countries and I can say for certain that they are all watching what your government is doing,'' he said.

In her speech, Ms Roxon will outline the industry's attack on the legislation - how it funded third-party groups to campaign against the laws domestically, set up international corporate arms to challenge them under trade treaties and deluged her department with Freedom of Information requests.

She will explain British American Tobacco gave 97 per cent of its global political donations to the Australian Liberal Party as it campaigned against the rules.

But Ms Roxon will argue the violence of the industry's reaction eventually shifted public opinion against it, contributing to the Coalition's decision to support the legislation.

She seemed pleased with the international attention it had attracted. ''I'm not going to be on their Christmas card list,'' she said of the tobacco industry.